Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
Fisherman Selwyn Soodeen was chopped to death during an altercation with another fisherman at the Guayaguayare Fishing Port on Sunday.
Soodeen, also known as Rat and Ratty, bled to death before he got to the hospital.
The suspect was also chopped during the altercation sometime before 7 pm at the port.
Speaking with Guardian Media yesterday, Soodeen’s stepfather, Martin Safe, said he left his stepson and other fisherfolk at the port and went home.
Safe said he was told that they had an argument over a bowl and things escalated.
“I was hearing that it is a bacchanal between him and the guy over a bowl and he telling the guy I will buy back your bowl. They both chopped each other.”
He added, “The kind of chop I see, in my knowledge, he come to kill my stepson. I don’t have no beef with nobody, and I find that not supposed to happen. Selwyn get dismantled. It was that brutal.”
Safe said he believed his stepson would not have survived even if an ambulance had arrived in time.
“With them chops, he could not survive.”
He added that Soodeen’s brother, who was at the port, held him in his arms as he gasped for breath.
Safe said Soodeen was well known in the community and had one daughter and a grandchild.
The Guayaguayare Village Council expressed its deepest condolences to family, love ones, friends, the fishing community on its Facebook page.
“May God grant them strength, peace and comfort as they navigate this unimaginable pain,” they posted.
Another resident, however, said the two men had an altercation earlier in the day. He also claimed Soodeen had fired the first chop.
An autopsy is expected to be conducted this week, as homicide investigators continue their inquiries.
